Hamilton, Ontario gets 12 new hybrid transit buses
When I was growing up in Hamilton, Ontario the local bus system known as the Hamilton Street Railway had a long history of clean operations. They ran electric trolley buses in the lower part of the city as recently as the early 1990s and were one of the first operators of natural gas powered buses in Canada. The trolleys were great because they didn't have any of the nasty fumes of the diesel buses that ran the mountain routes. Unfortunately they were ultimately retired and the overhead wires removed.
The HSR has just recently taken delivery of their first twelve hybrid diesel electric buses. They received five forty-foot standard buses and seven sixty-foot articulated buses. The articulated buses are the first of their kind in North America. The buses are equipped with the General Motors two-mode parallel hybrid system that is currently being adapted for use in cars and trucks and will appear in the Chevy Tahoe this fall. The buses built by New Flyer use an Allison and nickel metal hydride battery packs. There are currently over 640 of these GM hybrid buses in service in 51 cities around North America.
[Source: City of Hamilton]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rob Italiano 12:54AM (3/27/2008)
Are there any plans to expand the hydrid fleet anytime soon?
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